The traveler's essential guide to safety and wellness

April 6, 2008|By Vani Rangachar The Los Angeles Times

What should every traveler's first-aid kit contain? Here is a list of items recommended by Dr. Brian Terry, a specialist in travel medicine who practices at the Healthy Traveler Clinic in Pasadena, Calif., and Dr. Christopher Van Tilburg, an emergency and wilderness physician and editor of Wilderness Medicine magazine in Salt Lake City:

Depending on where you're headed, include a broad-spectrum prescription antibiotic such as Zithromax or Cipro.

Antibiotic cream to treat cuts.

Antifungal creams.

Antihistamine (such as Benadryl) for allergies and bug bites.

Anti-malarial medication if you are traveling to a part of the world where the risk is high

"It's absolutely vital," Terry says.

Bug spray with DEET.

Terry recommends Ultrathon.

Condoms, for safe sex.

"People don't talk about these things, but they are very important," Terry says.

For wound care, take adhesive bandages, soap and hand sanitizers. "The key to wound care in the wilderness is cleaning it properly," he says. For water purification, he recommends chlorine tablets because they taste better than iodine and work faster. Also: a CPR mask and a pair of vinyl or nitrile gloves. "Some store-bought first-aid kits don't come with these," Van Tilburg says.